Real Talk | The Real Estate Podcast
Real Talk | The Real Estate Podcast
Building Success and Relationships in Real Estate
Meet Naveen Chopra, a dynamic broker and newly appointed sales manager at TFN Realty, whose journey from helping his parents' business to thriving in real estate is nothing short of inspiring. Sharing his pivotal experiences, Naveen reveals the moment that set him on the path of new home sales. His story is a testament to the resilience required in pre-construction sales, especially during slow periods, and how proactive strategies can turn underperforming sites into success stories.
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Hey everybody, this is Diana Victoria Quinn from TFN Realty, and you're listening to the Real Talk Real Estate Podcast, the uncensored show that keeps it real for people who love real estate. We'll have some of the best interviews with some of our industry's most exciting people right now on a variety of different topics. We promise not to bore you. Welcome back to another episode of our TFN podcast. Today we have Naveen Chopra, tfn Realty. He is you're a broker correct Broker yes.
Speaker 1:Broker with TFN Realty and actually our very new sales manager. So congrats on the promotion as well.
Speaker 2:Thank you, appreciate it. Thank you for having me on today and thank you for giving me the role as well. Thank you, appreciate it. Thank you for having me on today and thank you for giving me the role of manager, that's something I was striving for for a while, and the opportunity presented itself and I was fully on board with it, especially knowing the team I was working with.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so you were with TFN, then you left for a period of time and then you've recently come back. Yes, but before we go into all of that, can we start sort of just your journey? How did you get into real estate, how did you start and why?
Speaker 2:Yeah, great story. Well, probably not a great story to everyone else, but for me I came from a background of business, with my parents helping them run their business, and then, years in, it was time to go out and do my own thing, and I always had a passion for real estate, but it comes from my parents. They always loved real estate. I remember being young and Sundays was driving to the big houses and looking at these castles and mansions and I think that's where that love comes from. And then mansions, and I think that's where that love comes from. And then, yeah, fast forward trying to pick a career and I always wanted to do resale. So I first got into the industry thinking I was going to do resale, but it didn't last long.
Speaker 2:I was shadowing someone that we all know, nicole Lombardi, and I was doing an open house for her. But I had to pick up her open house signs from a sales office that, um, she was managing Okay. So I picked up these open house signs, went to do this open house that got zero walkthroughs, very defeated. My first open house, uh, went back to the sales office to drop off the signs. But when I went into the sales office at that time they now opened and there was a buzz, people were interested, people were buying their first new homes, new immigrants, people, uh, upsizing. It just had such a vibe to, especially coming from open house that did zero walkthroughs.
Speaker 2:So I went the next day and I was like, um, talking to nicole, how the open house went. I didn't even want to speak to it. I was like, yeah, nothing happened there. But what was like where I picked up the signs from what was going on there, like was that like a grand opening or something? No, that was just a sales office for the builder we work with. Like why are you, are you interested? I'm like, yeah, she's like, oh, that's interesting because I'm hiring.
Speaker 2:And yeah, straight into new home sales from there and it's been 15 plus years of the love for new home sales and just wanting to progress my career there.
Speaker 1:And you never went back to resale.
Speaker 2:I'll do resale Friends and family, only A few referrals here and there that I'll take on if they're close enough to my friends or family that say, can you help them out? I do participate in it, so I do have a background in resale, listing and buying. I do enjoy that too, not as much. My expertise comes in new construction.
Speaker 1:And what would you say was some of the biggest challenges that you had when you first started in pre-construction.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so when I did first start, as I said, I seen this big, busy real estate office Fast forward to that same summer and crickets and I was working with someone at that time.
Speaker 1:that's when you asked to go back to the resale open houses.
Speaker 2:No, not even there I still don't give up. I still wanted to learn why, how and how do we change this? And I was at that time. I was being mentored by someone who's also at TFN, maurizio.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:He took me under his wing, but that summer he won on a prolonged vacation. So I was alone for almost a month, I would say, and crickets a month, questions being asked, what's going on? And obviously their thoughts were hey, the senior left.
Speaker 3:What are you doing?
Speaker 2:I'm like I swear I, I'm trying. There's no one walking through I don't know what I'm supposed to do, but it was a great learning moment as uh, being able to self-motivate too and being able to explain to upper management what's happening and why we're not seeing that same volume come through.
Speaker 1:And I think you brought up a good point that you know, in these times when it's quiet at the sales office, our job is not to just nurture the people that walk through the door, but also be proactive to help drive traffic as well, and that can be challenging to think of new, innovative ways to do that as well. So that's good that you were able to turn it around.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was a good experience right off the bat and it really, I think, molded me for my career from there on because, I got to experience busy sites, slower sites and got to fill in at some sites that weren't doing as well.
Speaker 2:My first senior role came because of that. It was the site that was not doing as well as they expected and they decided to give me a chance with it. I was able to turn it around as a site on Danforth and Danforth, great intersection. But yeah and it was a hit. It was priced right, I believe, marketed it wrong, but once we got in there we started getting it moving along Amazing we started getting it moving along.
Speaker 1:What was you know? And I've also been in pre-con for many, many years and I think we all have, like this, one community or one launch that really stands out in our minds. That was like incredible, fun, exciting. Is there one that stands out for you?
Speaker 2:Yeah, and you're probably gonna get the same answer from two other people. Uh, it was box growth. I believe it's 2009. It was a launch of our semis and at the atmosphere is something that we still strive for. If you ask nicole the same story, I'm sure she'll come up with the same answer. It was one feeding off the other smiles while some one person's being pulled out a door because people are in lineups all day. The other person's, uh, being asked a thousand questions and then we have a thousand people knocking down the door to buy and prices are being raised every 10. No one cares. People are selling spots in their line. It was before. All of this was a norm, and it was a norm for a long time, but before that it didn't exist, so it was new, it was exciting and just the way our team hammered through with it with a smile. At the end of the day, we popped a bottle of champagne. Uh, it was just an incredible experience I don't think I'll ever forget.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And it was my first opening. Oh, wow, yeah, so many things in one that, yeah, I'll never forget that, that'll always stand out Such high energy, such an adrenaline rush the entire day.
Speaker 1:I know what you describe. At the end of the night, everyone's around. It's a team huddle, team meeting. You pop that bottle of champagne, you're celebrating and you still like you can't. Even when you get home and you try to go to sleep, your heart is still going like you still can't believe it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, oh my god, and especially being the first time, it was that experience that's so exciting. I mean we just had a great launch like that at riverland. It was exciting. Uh, everyone was on the floor, everyone, everyone was talking to upper management, to management, sales. The men's were helping in. It was just that feeling. I think it's been a while since we've had it. The last few years we haven't had those huge openings where we're having these 40, 30 sales a little bit of a lineup. It was nice to feel again.
Speaker 1:Do you think that that market is coming back? Where do you think we're at? And I know you can't predict the future, but where do you think we're at right now and where we're going?
Speaker 2:I feel it coming back. I see the turn. I mean the urgency to that. The lineup part's not there, which you know what.
Speaker 2:Sometimes it's great because people are actually coming in and getting to talk to us and getting to pick a floor plan they actually want and they're not sacrificing, they're actually getting what they want, they're asking the right questions, they have a good feeling when they leave because they got the attention they wanted.
Speaker 2:So it's a good medium right now, I think. And we're seeing the turn towards the market picking up, especially with pre-construction, knowing that it's closing a year or more from now, so they have confidence in that, and knowing that, hey, we'll have better rates, payments in the future. Let me get in now. But being able to give them the service they want and them receiving it, you can see the appreciation and we have to appreciate it too, because sometimes we know people are sacrificing to buy their home, whether it be their first move up or last. It's not something that's your sacrifice on. So it's a good feeling that they actually get the time to pick out a floor plan, review with their family, make a call to their mother and excitingly say, oh I, I got the one I wanted. It's a nice feel.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and they're making informed decisions, like you said.
Speaker 2:Exactly.
Speaker 1:More likely to make the right decision and come closing, that process should be seamless and successful. So, yeah, I agree with you.
Speaker 3:And it's exciting and you see the excitement in their face too and the happiness not the disappointment of I didn't get what I wanted, or people leaving because we're sold out right enough how many years with tfn it's been since the beginning with tfn.
Speaker 2:Uh, I was with for the 15 years. The first seven I was with uh, remax, premiere, um and then after that with tfn. So eight years now with TFN.
Speaker 3:Okay, diana was talking about it. I know you left like three months or something like that prior.
Speaker 2:Almost a year in between.
Speaker 3:Okay.
Speaker 2:Can you tell us a little bit?
Speaker 3:about. I think it was like a familiar project or something like that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I left in between, I would say, at the end of a site that we're doing with the high-rise team here at TFN. The opportunity came up working with someone very familiar, nicole Lombardi, who gave me my first start. So I took that opportunity on to be the face of the sales team there, along with Maurizio, and great turnaround story, the three of us are back at TFN with a new builder partner with Calibrex too. So you know what Things happen. For a reason, you take that step forward and sometimes you come back to the team that you think works best yeah, and I think it's a testament to these strong partnerships and relationships.
Speaker 1:Look how many years you've worked with nicole. Yeah, um, like your entire career.
Speaker 2:Yes, pretty amazing we leaned on each other, we talked in between, whether we're at different builders or different brokerages. We always kept that relationship going and, yeah well, she was with TFN too, before she's the one that brought me over again. So it's nice to see that we find a way back to this partnership that works, and we're both very happy to be back at TFN too Exciting time. Getting that process going and that builder brokerage is different. A new pre-construction brokerage is completely different, I think, than just a resale brokerage.
Speaker 3:The support is really appreciated appreciate it and working so many years as a real estate agent, now working in the management or leadership side of the company, how do you think was first that transition and second, how do you feel now in that position?
Speaker 2:I like it. I always wanted to be in that position where I could be a leader and now I think with the years, experience, I know I could teach a lot more, educate on my experiences, but I'm always open to learning from others, so I see such an advantage of learning from the new generations. They're so tech savvy. Like I'm working hand in hand with Adam and he has taught me so much and I hope he'll probably say the same.
Speaker 1:I have taught him so much of different aspects of growth between the two of us and the partnership of both of us are now managing together and it's just a seamless process where we continue to learn from each other and I think that's what we've created now is a management team, and we all have our own skill sets, we all have our own strengths and our weaknesses and we all complement each other on that, and we're all different ages too. So, um, and I can totally relate, my 10 year old is teaching me all about tiktok and this is how I learn about transitions and filters and overlays and all kinds of stuff from my 10-year-old I have no idea.
Speaker 2:But it takes that willingness to learn too, and it's just being that team player and I always believed, even when I was on the sales team, that not everyone should do every role.
Speaker 3:Absolutely.
Speaker 2:Some do some better than some. So focus on what you're strong at and build on what you're not. But if you're a team player, that's going to come.
Speaker 1:And even on the pre-con sites. I'm sure you've worked with a partner most communities, most builder sites that you were on. And that is also a very special dynamic, because it's important to find a partner that can complement your weaknesses right and vice versa.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's something that, yeah, you can learn from each other. You have weaknesses, they have strengths, vice versa. Also, just synergy. What the partners I work best with are the partners that I'm checking in when I'm at home. They're checking in with me and we're making a phone call on the drive-in, not because we have to, but because you end up becoming this. Friendship forms out of your work relationships, but it leads to more than that and you just want to see each other advance in your careers and you help each other every step of the way. Those are the best partnerships I've seen throughout my career.
Speaker 1:And about tech. Where do you see technology evolving in our industry?
Speaker 2:Oh, I wouldn't say taking over, but definitely evolving and helping us succeed and streamline all of our processes and making it easier for ourselves, but easier for our purchasers too. Like we're selling so widely across Ontario. Using technology to sell helps being able to show someone a floor plan, seemingly just sending it to them with an email or just having it live already. Like we're working on Everything at their fingertips, making it easy having the questions answered before they even get to you, or at least them having questions about what you have sent them and they're them being prepared, rather than having this back and forth. Um, that results in a lot of trips and a lot of lost time and are you afraid of ai?
Speaker 2:no, I I actually like it. I haven't got my uh subscription yet to chat.
Speaker 1:Chat GBT yeah.
Speaker 2:But I use my wife, so it's all right. I always laugh. I'm like she's my other tech whiz. If I don't have Adam, I have Vanessa. I lean on them, but I learn while they're doing it right, so I like learning Adam will. He's very proud of me.
Speaker 3:I made my first live price list while he was away, so I'm very proud of myself too, yeah.
Speaker 2:So I uh, like I said, I always want a team that has that willingness to learn, because I have that right. There's a desire to learn and grow.
Speaker 1:And share and share and also other team members to share their experiences and their talents. And you know, I think in real estate traditionally on the resale side of the business it's very much. It's a lonely business. You spend a lot of time alone. You know there's some resale agents that are in partnerships or small teams, but I think that's what makes the pre-con side so beautiful, because it's a true team. We're never alone.
Speaker 2:Even if we want to be alone, you can't be alone. There's always someone, exactly. But it's nice, there's always someone checking in. You don't feel like all the burdens are on yourself.
Speaker 1:There's someone to run things by processes, by ideas, by yeah, it's, it's a great feeling and it's difficult to learn when you're by yourself right right To find that inner motivation, that inspiration, the drive to just learn what's happening in the marketplace, or new technology or apps. And we've also tried to build that out, or start to build that out, in our resale side of the business with our sessions and our training.
Speaker 3:And forming.
Speaker 1:even though we're all independent contractors, we're still one team, we're one TFN. So sharing ideas because that's how you really learn is off of each other.
Speaker 2:Well, that's what makes a great brokerage right. You're doing that same team kind of idea, although you're doing your own resale. You're doing your own listing. Some do have teams together, but you come together during your trainings and your meetings and you rely on each other to learn from too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you don't have to be threatened by, you know, your colleague or your other agents in the office, because we're all here to support each other.
Speaker 2:Exactly, and that's what makes a great brokerage Like you're working together, not against each other. Like you're working together, not against each other. And you see that here with the teams here, whether even if it's between the resale agents and the pre-construction agents we all still work together because we grow together.
Speaker 1:It is very unique actually it is.
Speaker 2:It is a nice situation where you have those bonds with agents that you don't always see, but they're participating on sites with us and we love helping them because they're bringing clients to us and we're nurturing their clients for them.
Speaker 1:It's a great relationship For one team. Yeah, very cool. I want to talk about the future. Where do you see yourself? And I know this is a really hard question, because I find it challenging for myself too. Where do you see yourself in five, ten years?
Speaker 2:I think as a whole, as where I see our team like what we put together over the last couple of months and how everyone came together and the ideas and ideals behind everyone is to grow, to grow our builder partners and to grow our roles in between. The hopes are we have so many builder partners that we all have the roles that we're desiring and grow into. Yeah, so I just see the whole brokerage growing together and the team that's come together now just getting more pieces to it too. I don't think we're done yet.
Speaker 2:I think, where we want to go. There's going to be a lot more pieces to put together and there's going to be a lot of opportunity for everyone to grow into what they want and kind of mold their own roles.
Speaker 1:Yeah, very true, we're in this creative stage, right now. And that's what makes our job so exciting because we can build and we don't have a blueprint for it. We're creating and brainstorming this all together.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's brokerages out there that are pre-construction brokerages, but I think we're unique to that because we have both aspects of it. We're also resale. We encourage both, yeah, and, like you said, there's no real blueprint to where to grow this out, because there's never a perfect situation or a perfect idea to follow. We get to make our own.
Speaker 1:And on a personal level professional development and personal development. Where would you like to maybe focus in on, or is there an area of your life that you want to learn more about? Grow?
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's a few things. One I think I always wanted to do is get better in any ways is public speaking. So I am going to start looking into speech classes. I was really good at it when I was younger. I don't know what happened. I actually went on to like regional speech from grade three.
Speaker 3:Wow, I have no clue how it was a great speech.
Speaker 2:It was something about Nintendo, something I was really passionate about, and I think maybe it just came out and after that it dwindled away, but it's something I always wanted to do and there's a few others within the brokers, I think, wanted to do the same. I know Raj and I have talked about it.
Speaker 1:I'll join that one too. Yeah, we got to find something, maybe something for everyone in the brokerage to join in on and we could do a training on.
Speaker 2:But I think it is challenging and but it's worthwhile for someone, especially in sales.
Speaker 1:Isn't that amazing? We're salespeople and we're so outgoing and we love to socialize, and yet when you put us in front of large groups, it becomes a challenge completely different, like it's.
Speaker 2:You put us in a small group and talking. We could go on for hours. You put us in front of a room and say, hey, speak to them I. I think that's what it is. It's speaking to them instead of speaking with and we're all comfortable speaking with someone. True, gets a bit nerve-wracking speaking to To yeah.
Speaker 1:And it's a one-way right.
Speaker 2:Exactly so. You're carrying the full.
Speaker 3:You're not receiving anything in return.
Speaker 1:I actually had this conversation with my son because he has severe difficulty presenting in front of his class. He has almost fainted a couple of times. The teachers have called me and so whenever he has a project and he has to present, he will lose that mark. He won't even get it, and so he's upset because he's a perfectionist.
Speaker 1:I said, look, some people are really good at it and others it's a challenge. So we started talking and I said look, mommy has the same issue. What is it for you Like? Is your mind? Is we always describe it? Is your brain telling you things like do you hear? And he's like, yeah, I hear.
Speaker 1:Like you don't know what you're talking about, you're stupid, you look like an idiot and we're so hard on ourselves yeah you know, and I have those similar thoughts as well, and I think social media has had something to do with that, because being critical of others and critiquing others and commenting on others is so easy.
Speaker 2:Now you can do it on every single worst thing to read the comments through on someone's correct and it's not necessarily our post.
Speaker 1:I read the comment on someone else. So if they're saying that about other people, they could be thinking this about me.
Speaker 2:I don't want to post.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I don't want to put myself out there and hear those negative comments towards myself. No, and I think that's exactly what happens. I presented yesterday that maybe for a minute or two, yeah, and yeah, the thoughts go through and then you start losing yourself. Right, and if you don't have that practice I think a lot of it comes with practice and having the opportunity to be in those situations uh, you'll get better and better as you go through them.
Speaker 1:But, yeah, I think it's natural for everyone to have those thoughts of running through your heads while you're presenting, when you're not used to presenting, because you're going to question yourself and when I see these like really good presenters, like people who love to speak in front of people who could go on forever and ever, I'm so envious like I wish I had just just a little bit about that, because I have great things to say yeah.
Speaker 2:I just can't say them no, were you there for the marketing part at Canfield?
Speaker 1:the two? No, I don't think so they carried the conversation so well.
Speaker 2:Uh, me and raj. That's where I came up from, where, like, was it just? Is it natural? Is it something they um took a class for because they came out so fluently?
Speaker 3:and they.
Speaker 2:There was no cue cards and I was expecting a teleprompter to be somewhere. How like it was a three minute speech. I was expecting a teleprompter to be somewhere. It was a three-minute speech. I was like this is incredible, but they just really knew how to carry themselves.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I think you're right, it's practice.
Speaker 2:It is something that we should look into as a team to do.
Speaker 3:Nath, one question that I love to ask to all our guests here in the podcast is an advice for new agents, because our audience we have a lot of new agents and people with so many years of experience. I think it's really beneficial for our audience to hear any advice. What would you say it's a great advice for new agents.
Speaker 2:A few things. One you probably learn nothing during your course, so every experience you have, do those open houses, shadow people, shadow a senior sales agent. If they're willing to take you on and most are Most want to share that knowledge with you. Take that opportunity. Also, when the good times are good, save some money. They're not always going to be good. There's ups and downs in the market and they affect us too, so be wary of that. Enjoy the good times, but save for the rough times. Also, keep educating yourself. The best agents I know are the ones that are constantly educating themselves and learning new technology and using the new technology to further themselves and their business.
Speaker 1:Totally. And also very good advice and point. When the times are good, they're good. When they're down, make sure you've saved yeah, but at the same time, always maintain consistency in your work. So, even though the results aren't there, giving it your all the same, you would in the good times.
Speaker 2:It's consistency well, it's funny you say that I've been saying for the last two years that in the good times you probably put in less work than in the rough times. You'll find yourself especially in the new sale side of it and resale both sides. I'm not that experienced with the resale side of it lately because, like I said, it's friends and family, but I find myself doing way more work now. The reach out is 10 times more than it was before. The follow-up with the registrants is more. All the work is amplified. When times are not as good or in a down market. Your efforts just have to be amplified.
Speaker 1:Yeah, totally. Lastly, what is the best part of what you do?
Speaker 2:I think it's what we do, what we sell, and it's probably most people's biggest decision or biggest purchase in their life. So the experienced buyer even telling me that, hey, this is my house, this is my last buy, this is the house I plan on retiring in, and just being able to help them through that process, it's a rewarding job.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it really is.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it really is.
Speaker 1:And you're right, we're part of people's biggest, one of their biggest, if not the biggest buying decisions of their lives, and we get to know so much about people's lifestyles, their family, their relatives.
Speaker 2:And whether they're experienced or the first time buyer, you still see that joy within them, knowing they're buying a house. It's just something about the process, and knowing they're going to spend years in this home and it's yeah, it's a joyful moment for them and you feel it.
Speaker 1:Well, thank you.
Speaker 2:Thank you for coming back.
Speaker 1:Thank you for being part of our team. I know that you're going to do amazing in your new role as a manager. You have a lot of experience and skills to share with the team, so we're very happy to have you, thanks for having me.